This is not a remake of the acclaimed film with Alec Guinness ‘The Man in the White Suit’. Rather it is evocative of a lesson I learnt. I met up with a member of BNI who whenever I see him, wears a pink shirt. However, this was a one-to-one meeting, and it was a Thursday, so he wasn’t sporting the pink shirt which I’ve known him to wear regularly.

The pink shirt only makes an appearance at any networking event. Why? Well it certainly gets him noticed – this is a bright pink shirt. You only have to see him wearing it a couple of times and you instantly remember him. Finally, if you happen to be in a busy networking room, you don’t have to see where he is, but if you’re looking for him, ‘he’s the man in the pink shirt’.

We finished our meeting and he left me with a few business cards. ‘Why’ I inquired. ‘Because when you’re happy with our services, you’re going to want to tell your friends’. Perhaps some of the oldest tricks in the book, but these are good habits for me to adopt.

Labels: Dominic, fishbowl3, networking events, networking tips

As you may be aware, I have already written a blog about networking. If you’re not, then the title maybe a bit of a give away! I want to take this opportunity to add a few more things I have learnt since.

Recently I attended a different chapter of BNI at Leicester Tigers Rugby Ground. The other chapter I had been to was the De Montfort chapter. Both chapters you might think should be very similar if not the same. However, that couldn’t be any further from the truth.

The BNI networking event at Leicester Tigers had more people, willingness to make connections, develop relationships and make referrals work. It generally had more of a buzz about the place. The lesson learnt here is shop around! The amount of money you can spend on some of these networking events, you better make sure it’s the right one. However, if a BNI event jumps out at you, it’s a good idea to get in there quick. If another company who do suits gets in before I sign up I would be ‘shut out’ of joining the same chapter.

Before that on Wednesday night I attended a ‘Networking Nosh’ evening. This was really informal in comparison to other networking events I had been to. I came out feeling a little unsure how necessary it was attending the event. It was only on Friday after speaking to Owain that I realised it had been a good idea to attend. Owain had met a few of the people I had met on that night at another networking event. Networking is about developing relationships. People are not necessarily going to be interested in you on the first meeting. It may take four or five meetings before someone makes a significant step into a purchase or whatever it may be. Being a familiar face to people installs trust and confidence in you and your business.

I got two referrals on my first visit to BNI and I’m really looking forward to waking up at 6.00am and going along this week! I just have to make sure I’m original in my approach during my minute spiel.

Labels: Dominic, fishbowl3, networking events, promotion

Just before promo event held in The Innovation Centre

Labels: fishbowl3, networking events, owain, promotion, video

It can be a bit daunting going out to different events and networking with complete strangers for the first time. Maybe it’s the added status - ‘networking event’ - that give people the heebie jeebies! However, once you’ve got a few under your belt, networking can really work for you if you go about it in the right way.

It has been another whirlwind week at Head & Griffiths HQ, and a week in which already we can begin to see the benefits of networking and speaking to people. On Wednesday we were at an event where the Pro-Vice Chancellor of De Montfort Vicky Vass, gave a talk on how the university is great for producing enterprising students. We created our first bespoke women’s suit for Vicky to sport for the occasion (which looked fab!) in front of the critical eyes of Jimmy Choo and Karen Millen! We got to chat to them about Head & Griffiths and Karen was absolutely loving it! So you imagine we were both buzzing!

We’ve also received our first corporate contact enquiring about a possible fitting with also the view to purchasing more suits for some of his more regarded employees. All this (and more) was made possible through networking. However, networking isn’t just about turning up. Turning up is just the start!

So if you are going to start networking you might want to keep in mind these few things,

• Be prepared. You have to know your business and have the confidence in your business and in what you’re doing.
• Be yourself. (This doesn’t mean how you would be at home in your Winnie the Pooh slippers eating fast food and watching Corrie!) It’s always best to get across some of your personality. People will feel more comfortable around you and remember you are essentially the face of your business so you don’t want to come across as a robot!
• Try and meet a few different people. You don’t want to drive somewhere for 45mins and only come away with one contact.

One thing I’ve particularly taken into account is that you don’t need to shout to be heard. If you tell one person about what you’re doing, they’re likely to tell others, and then you have that whole snowball or domino or whatever you want to call it effect!

Dominic

Labels: Dominic, fishbowl3, jimmy choo, karen millen, networking events